By Design — The Beginning

Hi Reader,

This is the first edition of the By Design newsletter. I figured the best place to start was the beginning — mine.

Six years ago, I put pen to paper and wrote down exactly what I wanted February, 2025 to look like. Right down to the apartment and car.

I knew that I was ready to take on strategic decision-making and direct the outcomes at work. I knew that I was more than a Business Analyst; I knew that I had a knack for giving form to the ambiguous, shaping vision, delivering at exemplary levels, and driving teams toward intended outcomes.

I believed so many things about myself, and it just felt like others couldn't see or weren't moved to act on what they could see.

I was making an average income, living a moderate lifestyle, but barely achieving a good percentage of my financial goals. Not only that, I didn't know what I wanted my money to do for me, in the sense that I was mostly subscribing to what other people considered fun and fulfilling, as opposed to what truly gave me joy.

On top of all that, it was tough to establish and sustain relationships with women who shared my goal-types. Making new acquaintances wasn't so difficult, but meeting 'my' people – personally and professionally – was difficult. I wasn't in the same rooms as women like me. Don't get me wrong, I had some great friendships, and I am still friends with many of those women today, but I feel like I lacked friendships that helped me get where I desperately wanted to go.

Symptoms:

• Income wasn't where I wanted it to be.
• Career wasn't where I wanted it to be.
• Community wasn't where I wanted it to be.

Problem: The outcomes I wanted required a different version of me and a different set of conditions than the ones I had created.

So, here I am in 2026.

Valued at work and compensated accordingly — doing exactly what I love, crafting problems, driving outcomes, and leading teams. My income has grown by almost 300% since then. I enjoy money on my own terms now, not performing someone else's idea of a good life. I have financial plans that actually reflect what I value.

I'm the founder and operator of a thriving guest experience business in Toronto.

I'm building By Design — my love child.

And I'm surrounded by people who match my energy and mean it.

All of it still in progress. All of it already working.

What did I do differently?

I designed.

Not perfectly. Not all at once. But deliberately.

Career-wise, I stopped waiting to be seen and started pursuing roles that matched what I already knew I was capable of. I got into the habit of singing it like a song wherever I went, to whomever I was talking to (my friends will attest to this — they were sick of me). I started calling myself by the name I wanted to be called, not the one my job title had given me. I talked to people already doing what I wanted to do. And one day, someone mentioned an opportunity they could help with. The rest is history.

The real game changer? I started walking like the person I already knew I was.

I started building intentionally — a business, a platform, a body of work that existed outside of anyone else's org chart.

I got deliberate about the rooms I was in. Not in a transactional way — but in a "this environment isn't reflecting me back accurately" way. I sought out conversations with people who were building, thinking, and moving with intention. And slowly, those people started showing up professionally and personally.

And I prayed. Because design without faith is just a plan.

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Do you need to put pen to paper for your goals or do you need to re-design?

Feel free to hit the reply button. I will read every single response.

Until next week!

Intentionally,

Dami